Group Read of The Round House by Erdrich

I only know of two of us (Morphy and myself) planning to read Louise Erdrich's The Round House in February, but I'm hoping that by creating a Group Read thread, others will decide to join in. You are all welcome!

Well, this is just what I need! Another "challenge", so to speak. But I love Louise Erdrich, and I may try to join in here.

I loved Round House. It's the only one of hers I've read so far.

I need a couple/few days to get started. I'm sick and have brain fog. I have a feeling that this book will need my full attention.

Added this thread to the group wiki.

>2 laytonwoman3rd: Of course you need another challenge, Linda! But this is a gentle one....

>3 jnwelch: I'm a fan of Louise Erdrich and I'm looking forward to reading this one that I haven't yet read. I recommend Love Medicine and the others in that trilogy, Joe. I think you would appreciate them.

>4 Morphidae: This is a no-pressure shared read, Morphy. It's Monday and I don't expect to start reading until mid-week at least. Unless this snow keeps up, then I might get another snow day and be able to stay home and read all week. (Dream on, Ellen.)

>5 drneutron: Thanks, Jim!

Okay, I have started reading. I've completed the first two chapters and the prose is beautiful.

You were saying it's beautiful and I got nervous. Usually that means lyrical and thick. But it's not that type of beautiful. It's the type that touches your heart.

"Let's go find her, he said. And even then as I threw on my jacket, I was glad that he was so definite - find her, not just look for her, not search. We would go out and find her."

And because of everything else I'm reading right now, I'm reading just one chapter a day. That might change over the weekend/Monday.

Yes, definitely not lyrical. Beautiful in its simplicity and subtlety.

One chapter a day is great. I noticed on your thread that you have several books going at once, and that you seem to read a chapter in each, then cycle through? I'm kind of intrigued by that approach to multiple reads at once.

I'm home sick again today and will probably try to power through a bit ~ although my sinuses feel like someone stuffed an entire field of cotton in there so I'm not sure how much reading I'll be able to manage.

I've started, and I'm hooked. I'm surprised to find quite a bit of humor in it.

>11 laytonwoman3rd: Oh good, I'm glad you're joining us, Linda!

I just finished chapter 8, a very loooong chapter. It has within it a story within the story ~~ absolutely lovely.

I am finding Joe, our young protagonist, to be an appealing and sympathetic character. Erdrich brings him, and his father, Bazil, richly to life.

>13 EBT1002: I'm a sucker for a thoughtful adolescent boy as narrator/protagonist. When that's well done, the book is usually a winner for me.

Getting sucked in!! Probably not this month, since I read The Round House recently and I am booked (ha, ha!). But after that!!

OMG, the boys in chapter 4 talking about how Star Trek characters have a Darth Vadar or an Emperor was something else. LOL. Do boys really talk about things like that?

>16 Morphidae: I bet they do!

I asked MrMorphy and he confirmed that 13 year old boys do indeed talk like that. He said that if he read the chapter he wouldn't have even questioned it. Then went on to describe some of the conversations he and his friends did have. Sheesh.

I wondered the same thing so I'm glad you confirmed with MrMorhpy! It's been a while since I hung around with any 13-year-old boys. :-)

I posted this on my own thread, thought I would share here as well.

I love this passage from The Round House:

That we have a real grocery store on our reservation is no small thing. It used to be that, besides the commodity warehouse, food came from the tiny precursor store -- Puffy's Place. The old store sold mainly nonperishable items -- tea, flour, salt, peanut butter -- plus surplus garden vegetables or game meat. It sold beadwork, moccasins, tobacco, and gum. For real food our people had traveled off reservation twenty miles or more to put our money in the pockets of store clerks who watched us with suspicion and took our money with contempt. But with our own grocery now, run by our own tribal members and hiring our own people to bag and stock, we had something special. Even though the pop machine out front was banged in, the magic doors swished shut on slow grandmas, and children smudged the gumball machine until you couldn't see the colors of the candy, it was our very own grocery. Trucks came to it, like a regular store, stocked it, then drove away.

It so straightforwardly captures the contempt the residents of the reservation felt when forced to shop off-reservation, and the power of something as simple as having their own grocery. It's also an example of Erdrich's magnificently simple and eloquent prose. "...the magic doors swished shut on slow grandmas..." -- I love that.

Again, cross posting with my own thread.

The Round House:

I just finished Chapter 10 and it about knocked my socks off. I'm sitting here in bed, reading it with my cat curled up next to me (she has now left, as the laptop is her nemesis), and I said out loud "They did it. I can't believe they did it."
This is a really excellent novel.

I just finished the novel and all I can say is WOW. It may be my first five-star read of the year. I'm still deciding.

ETA: Nope, I gave five stars to Ian McEwan's Nutshell last month. This was at least as good as that.

>21 EBT1002: I'm coming upon Chapter 10, so won't read your spoiler here. But I completely agree with you so far. This is one fine novel. I was reading it before I got out of bed this morning---always a good sign!

I posted my review.